Luther–Filing begins Monday for candidates interested in running for the Luther Town Board of Trustees. The filing period ends Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, at the Oklahoma County Election Board.
Three positions will be on the ballot for the April 6, 2021, election for seats currently held by Jenni White, who serves as mayor, Trandy Langston and Terry Arps. White and Langston were first elected in 2017, and Arps was appointed to fill an unexpired term in late 2019.
Town leadership positions are not the only items that will appear on the April ballot. Registered voters within town limits will also be asked to approve two separate half-cent sales tax increases and a measure to remove the Town Clerk Treasurer position from an elected position. Currently Town Manager Scherrie Pidcock is serving that role after the sudden resignation of former Clerk Treasurer Kim Bourns.
SEE RESOLUTION TO APPOINT TOWN CLERK/TREASURER
The two sales tax proposals are for a half-cent each. One would fund “capital improvements” such as infrastructure, and the other would fund “municipal operations” such as employee salaries, insurance and daily operating expenses, according to a FB post from the mayor.
Over the years, The Luther Register has reported on sales tax revenues for the region, noting that Luther’s rate is the lowest in the area at three cents per dollar. Read this article from May 2017.
According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the Town of Luther sales tax payment in January 2021 was nearly $39,000, compared to about $34,000 a year ago. For comparison, Arcadia with a four-cent local sales tax generated almost $75,000 for January 2021, a huge boost from year ago numbers of only $25,000. And on the other side of Luther on Route 66 in Wellston, also with a four-cent local sales tax, January 2021 sales tax revenue was $32,000 compared to $38,000 a year ago. Use taxes, the amount of sales taxes for internet sales, doubled for Luther for January 2021 from 2020, at $12,000, reflecting some holiday online shopping.
As for candidates for Town Trustee, these positions drew a bevy of candidates four years ago.
RELATED: For the Luther Public Schools Board of Education filing in December 2020, no candidates filed to run except for the incumbents. Steve Broudy and Marcellus Fields automatically returned to the board to serve five year terms.
Garbage in, Garbage out. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. This town will NEVER get the help it needs until the City of Edmond annexes us. They’re already out to Choctaw Rd and SH66, just a matter of time before our petition gets enough signatures to deliver to the Mayor of Edmond asking them to rescue us from the idiocracy out here.